Philippians 3:17-21 Are you walking with a limp?

Philippians 3:17–21 NLT

17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

There are a couple of sermons that could be preached from this passage of Scripture but I want to ask you this question this morning…’Are you walking with a limp?” Paul is contrasting two separate lives here…the life of a believer and the life of a sinner. He says “Hey if you need an example look at the life I am living…the example me and other believers have set for you. We are following Christ Jesus and this is what it is gonna look like.” Paul says he is crying over how the so called believers are living. Now this can be a message to new believers or people who have been saved a long time ago or it can be for us today right where we are in our walk of faith.

What Paul is not doing is saying worship me…be like me…what he is saying is that he wants the Philippians to join him in living for Christ Jesus. Paul says if you need an example use us because we are patterning our lives after that of Christ. Jesus is the standard and that is what we should all be trying to follow….however every now and then we look around and say oh that’s how that works.

The Philippians are reminded that the conduct of believers is what separates them from the non-believers. How you act matters….what you celebrate matters….how you talk matters…you can come up with whatever excuse you want for how you act, live, talk, and what you make a priority in your life but at the end of the day if God is not first you are not living for God you are living for you. If you are not following the example set by Christ and you claim to be a believer there is no excuse.

Philippians 3:18 NLT

For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.

Paul says I am crying over how they are acting not because its wrong but because of what it is gonna cost them in the end. I am not judging I am afraid for what is goning to happen to them for how they are behaving. How they are acting says who they follow….look at verse 19 with me Philippians 3:19

Philippians 3:19 NLT

They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

They are headed for destruction but why are they headed that way…well their god is their appetite for the things of this world. They are not serving God they are serving self. Their god means that they are doing what everyone else in the world is doing they are deciding who they serve. Paul says the proof is in what they are bragging about…. things that are shameful and all they care about is what they want….we call this “living their best life” right now in this world….they could care less about what happens to them in eternity.

When is the last time I bragged about something that was sinful. Not me Bro Steve….When was the last time I was cussing a blue streak and quoting Scripture the next second…..how much I can drink someone under the table and then invite them to church….when we left the bar I told them I had to leave at 1 because I got church in the morning….the world is full of sin right now and it seems so normal. Folks we have to stop limping along in our faith and stand up straight and walk with God. If you are living for God the world will try to make you feel like you are the one living life wrong.

Folks sin is still sin even today…I don’t care what the world says is okay…you have to make a choice either you are gonna walk with God or limp through the world….a person who straddles a fence is guaranteed to get splinters. You cannot walk with God and hold hands with the devil. You cannot have it both ways. Paul says that the folks who are living their “best life” are living like this world is all that there is. They live and act as if there is no eternity.

Does that sound at all familiar today? Can you look around and find about 1000 examples of this very kind of living? This whole gender identity concept that is taking the world and our country by storm…I don’t know what I am…I am so confused….no your not confused you are determined to live life on your terms regardless of what is common sense. What about abortion…we are quick to ask those questions but what about I did not have time to read my Bible this week….I did pray twice today….when I got up and when I went to bed….yea I know he’s sick but the preacher is the one that is supposed to visit….yea I know that got “that thing” at the church but I have ________.

See that becomes our norm..I only have time for God when I have time for God….

I tell you folks play pretend all day long if you want too but there is a consequence for actions. I quit playing along just for the sake of getting along a long time ago…the truth is the truth even if no one is saying it out loud. God has not changed who He is at all…….hell is still hot…God is eternal and Jesus is the only way to heaven. I assure you all there is an eternity and there is only two places you can spend it. We had best start living like believers and quit acting like it don’t matter how I act and what I do and what I say and how I talk.

Paul now shifts gears and talks about believers. He calls us citizens of heaven….Philippians 3:20

Philippians 3:20 NLT

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

Paul says I don’t care what your driver’s license says…this is not your home. Your address right now might be here but folks let me tell you a truth found in Scripture…. that is a temporary address your permanent street address is a in a different zone…your name is written in a book and the street that you get to live on is paved with gold. Your house is a mansion and it is always sunny there…there is no pain….no night…no darkness…no hell….and no more death and that is where we who believe will be forever and ever.

We are here as a visitor if we are saved. Paul says those who live like this is it for them it gets a lot worse than life here on this broken world. We are here waiting for him to return as our Savior. We know that He is coming back one day…I don’t know when but I know He is.

The Apostle Paul says that these weak bodies we have will be taken from us and we get a new one that is glorious just like the one Jesus has now..notice I said has because He is alive and well right this second church …..Jesus is not dead He is very much alive and well.

I remember a time when if a movie had one cuss word in it that thing was rated R….no stores were open on Sundays…..everybody went to church and if you didn’t you didn’t leave the house on Sunday because there was no where else to go. If you didn’t go to church when someone asked you it shamed you that you did not attend services. We didn’t brag about not going to church because it was weird if you didn’t. It was a shameful thing to not gather with the saints on a Sunday.

In the world today that’s a brag…. I don’t go to church. I don’t need to go sit there and listen to some guy tell me that I ain’t living right…I don’t want to feel bad about myself….I am entitled to live my life as I see fit…..that church thing is a sham anyway….they ain’t fooling me they are no better than I am…..I don’t have to go to church to be saved….I can do what I want I’m the boss of me…..

Now as I was listing off all those sayings ya’ll were sitting there in the pew agreeing with me that none of those sounded right. “After all I’m in church so Bro Steve ain’t talkin to me.” Before you go to pat yourself on the back slow down there pump gun.

I am by no means throwing no rocks you understand….but let me ask you this…when is the last time that you bragged on Jesus like you brag on LSU winning a ball game….When is the last time you talked about Jesus like you did that fish you caught….when is the last time you were telling someone how awesome it is to go to church and worship in the house of the Lord?

See we want to condemn the sinners of the world and say we know where they are going but we don’t want to tell any of them how they can be saved. We have no issue pointing a finger…after all we are not like them are we….we are serving God….Let me ask you again…”Are you walking with a limp?”

Are you trying to have a walk of faith or just enough of one that you can make the cut? Are you following the Lord like the Apostle Paul or like Peter? See Peter walked with Jesus hand in hand for three years throughout his ministry….when they pinch came he denied he even knew Jesus. He later repented and but he did walk away from Jesus when the chips were down.

Now we walk away for different reasons….but make no mistake we walk away from our faith when it ain’t cool or when it gets tight….you know how I know….we don’t brag on Jesus like we do on everything else….we hesitate to tell someone the good news that could maybe save their lost souls but sharing the latest scandal from D.C. is absolutely no issue. I am quick to tell someone I support Trump or argue somebody down that Joe Biden was a good president….. that I am a republican or a Democrat or what I think about the latest report on immigration….

You get my point…anything is fair game except living in such a way that tells everybody I meet that I am living for Jesus. I am limping along on a faith that is just barely enough to get me to church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Brothers and Sisters we have to stand up straight and tall and proclaim the message that was given to us. Not just saying it but doing it. We have to start living our lives like we are citizens of heaven today not one day in the future. We have to live like how we act and what we do, say, and live matters.

Are we believers or are we not….if Jesus came back right now would I be ashamed that I did not talk to Him this morning and tell Him how much I love Him and how thankful I am for Him and what He did for me. If you want your life to transform its easy….live like you believe what you say.

Invitation……